Saturday, October 1st. The Grand Tasting. After nearly a month of cocktail sipping leading up to this event I was, needless to say, very excited. My first experience with the evenings libations was attending the Home Bartenders Competition in the upstairs gallery of the Crystal Gardens. Such a lovely, sun soaked location for this event. I was a little disappointed to see that there was only about 12 people in the room, including myself. I’m guessing because the ticket price only included small sips from each cocktail, people didn’t see the value in the $10.00 ticket. Too bad.

These home bartenders did put on a good little show as they muddled, crushed, poured, shook, stirred and garnished their home creations. Sadly, I did not get to taste any of the drinks and therefore can’t give you my opinion of them. I do know that our own local food blogger Janice Mansfield (or @toots11 as she is known on Twitter) won the overall prize. So congrats to Janice! 

Judges included Peter Hunt of Victoria Spirits, Simon Ogden of Veneto Tapas Bar and Darcy O’Neil of Art of Drink. This must have been a hard competition to judge, so hats off to the boys for their dedication to their craft!

 

Our next stop was the evening events held in the main areas of the Crystal Gardens. We arrived at about 7:10pm (10 minutes after opening) and were greeted with a very long line reaching out the main entrance. Not nearly as terrible as this year’s Great Canadian Beer Fest line up though. The line moved fast and we were soon whisked up to the main staircase. There we met with some confusion. There are two sets of stairs leading up into the atrium, and both were packed. One side led to the coat check, the other into the main area. When we reached the top of the stairs though, we realized that our line was colliding with the head of another line coming in the opposite direction, all leading to the coat check.

 

This was my only complaint of the whole evening. There were two older ladies manning the station who were moving at a grandma’s pace and had no idea about the two lines coming in opposite directions into their booth. People were trying to be polite, but, well, you know how these things can get. A little organizing of this would be very helpful next time.

After checking our coats and diligently placing the ticket in a pocket not to be forgotten or accidentally dropped while under the influence, we headed into the crowds. Where to begin? There were booths stretching out to every corner, food in the top levels and the crowds were ample, though not too packed. There were no real “lines” at any of the booths, though you did end up waiting a few minutes as the hosts of each booth gave their audience a great show.

Our first stop was at Aura’s booth. They had a Sangria style cocktail on offer as well as a small bite of duck confit and some kind of preserve (my memory eludes me for now). The sangria was a great light start to the night and the duck was tender and delicious, though it could have been slightly more ample.

After our Sangrias were drunk, it was time to hit the next booth. There was no time for dawdling as the event was only two and a half hours long. With so many people, spirits, booths and food items to sample, that didn’t leave much time to breathe between samples.

We headed to the place I wanted to see the most, Taboo. A spirit producer from the Okanagan making Absinthe and other fine spirits. We were excited to try the absinthe, both in straight and cocktail forms. We were not disappointed. As this was my first taste of absinthe, I have nothing to compare it to, but it was a very nice tipple to share. The cocktail was also fabulous and I don’t even like licorice really.

Here’s the mister pondering the secrets of life or maybe he’s picking out the next booth we are going to visit.

As the evening progressed, we found that many booths stopped charging for their food or cocktails or both. Having so many people around who are under the influence, it can’t be easy to keep things under control. We found our favourite booth hidden in a corner away from everyone else. It was the booth from Lure that attracted us, with their talk of paté and little popcorn shoots. Yes that’s right. Those little yellow things on top of the canapé is called a popcorn shoot and boy does it ever taste just the way you imagine. Delicious! We “sampled” about ten each.

After that there were many booths visited. This one for Licor 43, a vanilla, fruit and herbal concoction that is the number one liquor export out of Spain. Imagine that! And I’d never even heard of it. But after tasting it, they’ve got at least two new fans here in Canada. Lucky for us there is a local distributor at Wine Runners. This stuff was great, and I look forward to trying it in more cocktails.

This was one of the best attributes of being at Art of the Cocktail. You aren’t there just to get drunk and drink good cockatils (though, I’m sure some were). You were there to discover new things, new foods, spirits, lounges, cocktails, etc. It was a fun learning experience.

One of our favourite booths, was Spinnakers Gastro Pub. They were serving an apple infused cocktail with an equally apple-y appetizer. Ryan is a master of the art of cocktails and his drinks do not shy away from being different. This was a fabulous drink and food pairing.

 

Some of the other spirits are not even available here. This one, Soft Tail, is an apple vodka from Washington state, they also make Grappa. Mr. Guilty and I are already planning our trip to the distillery.

And so ended our journey through Cocktailia. We were treated to a free cab ride home (a FABULOUS idea!) and were greeted in the morning by no hangover. A more perfect evening could not have been had. I salute the Victoria Film Festival for putting this on and look forward to it again next year. Bravo!

The next day I attended one of the many workshops put on for the Festival. This one took place at The Whole Beast (or the Village Butcher in Oak Bay), an artisan salumeria right here in our little city. I was treated to delicious cocktails and even better cheeses and meats, but then again, I’m biased towards the food. This was the write up for the workshop:

“Port with stilton, sherry with prosciutto. Traditionally, aperitif wines have been paired with meats and cheeses, but we’re turning tradition on its head by pairing aperitif wine cocktails with artisan cured meats from Cory Pelan’s The Whole Beast and gourmet cheeses from Charelli’s Cheese Shop. Sip and savour exquisite flavours. Cocktails created especially for the event by award-winning Vancouver mixologist David Wolowidnyk –  they will open up the palate and stimulate your taste buds at this food experience.”

And here are a few photos from the event:

This was an eye opening event to attend and I look forward to honing my cocktail skills over the next year in anticipation of attending next year’s Art of the Cocktail. Thank you to Victoria Film Festival for putting this on and to all those who attended for donating.